The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

According to my phone this book took me 23 hours and 7 minutes to finish. Nevertheless, The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois was worth every minute. This is the first historical fiction book for author Honoree Fanonne Jeffers who was born in 1967 in South Carolina. I read somewhere that former President Obama liked this book so I figured I would too because I tend to like the same books he likes. I also like that a former President makes a list of his favorite books, films, and songs every year. The story revolves around the life of Ailey Pearl Garfield. Born as the third daughter to a father who was an emergency room doctor and a mother who used to teach school Ailey often felt left out. She had great parents. I wouldn't know but I guess it is hard to be the youngest in the family. Ailey is pressured to be a physician like her father and her older sister but she really isn't interested. She is whip smart. Her parents further challenge her by moving her from her friends in the local high school to a private school of mostly white people on the nicer end of town. She doesn't want to go but she does. She goes to the same college as her middle sister. She completes her degree but then starts to float along in life because of two tragic deaths in her family. Later she goes on to get her master's and doctorate in history. She is studying the history of her descendants. Ailey learns some surprising things. This is a terrific epic novel.